Catching Up

It's 6 am on Friday and the first chance I've had to catch up with my blog. It seems that whenever I wasn't running around the wi-fi was down. Enough excuses, I'll make up for it before everyone gets up for breakfast.

Having lost Sunday's spot landings from the programme because of the weather there was pressure to get things weaving. On Monday a navigation task was run, rather short and rather late, but the last minute addition of hidden gates spiced it up a bit. Chris and Claire Wills in their very tidy Escapade scored maximum points in the dual 3-axis class on this, a great start to their competition. Richard Rawes in his Chaser maxed in the solo flexwing class while Rob Grimwood and Chris Saysell did the same in their GT450 in the dual flexwing class. The solo 3-axis class having been declared invalid because only 3 nations were represented, this gave us a first place in each of the valid classes, very positive stuff. The task was followed by a spot landing under power.

Weighing the Aircraft from 13 Nations

Although the sun has now come out, the decks are still pretty wet. The wind, which has been around 25 knots, should dry them out but more rain has been forecast for later so we'll wait and see. In the meantime weighing is drawing quite a crowd. The rules are strictly enforced and the crews are weighed, kitted to fly, together with their aircraft. Later we expect those that are close to the microlight maximum takeoff weight (450 kg for two-seaters and 300 kg for single-seaters) to be pulled off the start line at random and spot weighed. Having flown a Tanarg, Rob Grimwood is very keen to see them all weighed - particularly the French for some reason...

There are 13 nations competing with some 60 aircraft. The flags look a jolly sight in sunshine with a stiff breeze. The organisers have erected a useful signpost for those feeling homesick although we were disappointed not to see Deddington named. One nation appearing for the first time is Norway and they've done it in style with a big beefy team truck and an interesting flexwing, of which more later.

The Czechs have a strong team of 13 aircraft, followed by the Poles with 11 and we Brits 8. The two seat flexwing class is the biggest with 22 aircraft. Sadly, it looks unlikely that there will be a solo 3-axis class. David Broom could not take time off from instructing at Suttom Meadows, which is a shame. We're all missing you, Dave, particularly the chap in the Sluka as it takes 4 nations to make a Championship class. Hopefully, with the new deregulated single seat class we'll see more British entries in the future. Maybe I'd better complete the work on my Streak (and my diet) in time for next year so I can compete.